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Biographical details

Dr Bryn Jeffries is a Physicist and Computer Scientist, with experience in industry and academia. He works in the School of Information Technologies at the University of Sydney, researching database systems and teaching several database units. Bryn also provides database infrastructure and expertise to the CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity.

Research interests

Researchers often collect large amounts of data without yet knowing where the value within it lies. They often then need to review at least some of this data manually in order to reveal its value, which can be a slow and sometimes subjective process. Dr Bryn Jeffries' research looks at more efficient means of extracting new and useful information from research and other types of data.

"Data science - the field that I work in - offers so many opportunities to work with data to answer complicated problems in a wide range of domains.

"For example, I'm currently working with data from the CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity, which aims to improve alertness and therefore safety in the workplace and during commutes, in part by improving people's sleep. The data comprises recordings from people with sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnoea.

"To diagnose a person's condition, that person typically has to make multiple overnight visits to a sleep clinic, where they are monitored so that researchers can understand their brain and breathing activity during sleep, among other things. This data then needs to be analysed in order to decide what treatment is required. As well as being very time consuming, this process can also be rather subjective.

"We wanted to be able to be able to diagnose people and determine the best form of treatment without their having to make so many trips to the clinic. So we're collecting data outside the clinic, such as with activity meters and heart-rate monitors, and using machine learning techniques to identify different types of abnormal breathing from recordings of people while they're sleeping.

"This automated approach can provide faster and more consistent assessment than the traditional approach.

"This is just one example of data science in action. I love it because I love problem solving, and in this research I get to help solve real problems that affect millions of people around the world.

"I've been working at the University of Sydney since 2010, and have been a researcher here since 2014. I've been very fortunate to benefit from the experience of many wonderful people here. There is a great community of researchers across the whole University who are very willing to explore new ideas."